1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the joining together of two complementary connectors, and in particular of DB-type electric connectors that are frequently used in computer systems.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIG. 1 represents a conventional DB-type male connector 5. This connector includes a body 6 provided with a rectangular connection plane 10. The central area of plane 10 includes a plurality of pins 11 extending perpendicularly to plane 10. A metallic shielding and protection wall 12 surrounds the plurality of pins 11. On both sides of the assembly of pins 11, in the vicinity of the shorter sides of the rectangular plane 10, two fixed cylinders 13 are provided, extending perpendicularly to plane 10. Cylinders 13 include a circumferential groove 13-1 in the vicinity of their distal extremity. Hereinafter, "peg" is to be construed as a cylinder 13 provided with this circumferential groove 13-1.
The pegs 13 are part of a locking system for fixing the male connector to a female connector. Pegs 13, in a conventional locking system, cooperate with a locking element that is mounted so as to slide longitudinally, across the body of the female connector. The locking element is formed by a strip element whose extremities are folded against the face oriented towards the plug. Each folded portion is provided with a fork, one opening towards the middle of the strip element, the second opening away from the strip element. Before plugging the male conector into the female connector, the locking element is displaced to one side to allow the pegs 13 to pass through the forks; then the locking element is slid into a locking position where the forks imprison the grooves of pegs 13. The sliding locking element is retained against the body of the female connector by two screws screwed into the body of this connector. The heads of these screws are located between the main part of the locking element and the folded parts and serve as an abutment for the pegs 13 to determine the matching position between the grooves of pegs 13 and the forks of the sliding locking element.
Generally, the fixed connector protrudes from a plate or the wall of an electronic apparatus casing. In most cases, the plate is provided with an aperture large enough to accommodate the body of the fixed connector with its locking element and this does not allow the fixed connecter to be fixed to the plate. In this case, the fixed connector is secured at its back to a printed circuit, for example by means of soldered pins and/or by screws that retain the sliding locking element and then passss through the connector body.
Since the removable connector is only fixed to the socket, a drawback of this assembly is that all the forces applied to the connector are transmitted to the fixed connector. Such forces, amplified by a lever effect, are also transmitted to the means securing the fixed connector to the printed circuit, which rapidly leads to damage of the secural means and/or the printed circuit.
In some cases, the fixed connector is also secured to the above-mentioned plate by the screws holding the sliding locking element. The plate is then provided with an aperture through which only the active part of the connector protrudes, the plate being interposed between the sliding locking element and the body of the connector. A drawback of this solution is that the removable connector, when in its final position, is not fully plugged home in the fixed connector. Indeed, the screws holding the sliding locking element, which serve as an abutment for the pegs 13, are separated from the fixed connector by the thickness of the plate. This drawback could be solved by shortening the pegs to account for the thickness of the plate. This, however, would raise the obvious problem that standard connectors could no longer be used but, on the contrary, a large range of specific connectors would have to be provided because the plates have various thicknesses.